Above all else, the mountains are definitely a huge favorite. I now know what people mean when they say, eastern US doesn’t have mountains—they have hills. I don’t think I will ever get tired of seeing Mt. Rainier especially. It is HUGE! In the winter it looks more like a bell than it does in the summer. In the summer, while still snow covered you can really see the details of it. The Olympics and Cascades are beautiful too. My favorite is when the clouds mimic the peaks of the mountains and sit right above them. It looks like the mountains are stacked. My other favorite view is when the clouds are low and it is clear enough that you can see above them, and then it looks like the mountains are floating in the clouds.

Another very special experience are the bald eagles. About the time we arrived, a nesting pair moved in and we have seen them everywhere. The one day I was driving across 520 and one flew eye level with me the entire way. I was able to see in his eyes, the details of his beak and face—VERY beautiful. Every time we mention the bald eagles, people are amazed that we have seen them so often or so many eagles because they themselves never have. Speaking of wild life, not only can you see bald eagles, but any number of hawks, snow owls, cougars, cranes, and Sasquatch! Yes Sasquatch is real.

Oh can you believe I just wrote over 2,400 words and didn’t talk about coffee once? What is wrong with me! Yes coffee is on every corner, but surprisingly it is not all Starbucks. My personal favorite is Café Vita. Any place that is worthwhile serves it. It is worth the price! We were walking along the pier today and Randy goes “You know you are in Seattle when you see an eight year old walking around drinking coffee and you don’t think anything of it.” I didn’t even notice that there was anything odd about that.

So I talked all about Seattle, its nuances and my experiences but I still have to tell how we spent the day celebrating and a little personal stuff and a little business stuff. We turned the whole weekend into a celebration. Pup and kitties got steak and bacon. Pup was even given the bone from the steak, which now is the whitest white possible. Randy and I went out for breakfast. I know that doesn’t sound all that exciting, but you have to take into account that we are not morning people. Randy and I making it to a restaurant while they still serve breakfast is quite an accomplishment for us. Coastal Kitchen on Capitol Hill is amazing! I highly recommend it. Yes they serve Café Vita coffee and they are known for their coffee cake, so make sure you order some. They will bring you a HUGE piece. It is unlike any other coffee cake and is amazing—let me know if you can find the recipe, I would LOVE to have it. After that we went to Pike Market, and then walked along the pier. A day celebrating our arrival we were able to experience all of our favorite things, breakfast, great coffee, seeing two bald eagles, Pike Market, a wonderful view of Mt. Rainier and nice walk—you couldn’t ask for a better day!

Since this turned out longer than expected I think I will save the personal growth and business stuff for another post. Have a great evening and thank you for sharing this special day with me!

Check out the rest of this series here:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3  | Part 4  | Part 5  

Wow this is a loaded topic. Moving here basically meant that I had to relearn how to drive. Initial perception was no one here knew how to drive. We have since learned that is not true, they were just taught a few key things differently than what you are taught in PA. There are two key areas to driving here: how people drive and understanding the roads. Obviously, they influence each other.

I’ll start with the roads. Almost every road (I’ll say 99% of them) is a number instead of a name. A road will be named “NE 134th St” instead of Lake Hills St. The numbers come from the area being based on a grid and the higher the number the further you are from Seattle Center. All road names also have a direction associated with it, in the example I gave you, the direction is northeast, which means that this road is located northeast of Seattle Center. If the direction comes first the road runs west and east, if it comes after (134th St NE) the road runs north and south. All of this makes it sound easy until you consider side streets. They are named based on a road that on the grid they align with which most of the time has no correlation to the area that the road is physically located. Also, just because you are on a road with the same name as another does not mean it will connect to it—it won’t. Also along this path, every time a road curves, the name is changed because now it aligns somewhere else on the grid. To look at a map, the roads here look easy to learn. To drive them is a whole other story.

Learning the road naming is hard enough, understanding addresses is another thing. I am use to addresses going in order, there’s a one hundred block, then a two hundred block and so on. Here the first two or three digits are based on the intersection of the roads that you are at. So if you are on NE 134th St, but the cross intersection is 18th PL NE, then your address will begin with 18. But the next intersection could be 112th Ave NE so those addresses would begin with 112. Driving and looking for an address takes some getting used to.

Ok driving abilities. Let’s say the speed limit is 60 mph. East coast, everyone would be going 65-70+ mph unless there was a cop, and then the speed would be about 55 mph. Here, everyone travels about 50 mph unless there is a cop, and then we go 60. Curves in the road baffle people here; everyone slows down even more to go around a curve, even on the highway. Merging, this one came close to getting us killed many times until we learned a northwest secret. East coast, you are taught it is your responsibility to speed up so you do not slow down traffic. Here they are taught to slow down and let you in. It is a completely different mindset, and unless you know that, it is very dangerous.

Also, driving tricks like flashing your headlights to warn other drivers there is a cop or getting into the left lane so other drivers can merge easier completely eludes people here. It took awhile to get use to these new rules if you will and to understand them, but we’re getting there.